Revitalizing Colleague-Specific Human Capital: Boomerang and Pipeline-Based Hiring in a 41-Year Multilevel Study of Employee Mobility
Human Resource Management · 2025 · Volume 64 · Issue 1
Abstract
Amidst the decline of permanent employment contracts and the rapid shortening of career cycles, organizations often face challenges in fully capitalizing on employee mobility. This study adopts a multilevel perspective to explore how mobility impacts both individual and team performance, focusing on acquiring colleague-specific human capital through two talent acquisition strategies: boomerang hiring and pipeline-based hiring. Using a unique Major League Baseball database spanning 41 years, including 19,927 player-year records and 1156 team-year records, our analysis reveals that individuals engaged in boomerang and pipeline-based hiring and possessing higher levels of individual colleague-specific human capital, experience greater benefits from mobility in terms of individual performance. Moreover, these hiring strategies allow organizations to effectively harness colleague-specific human capital. Specifically, team performance is positively influenced by a greater proportion of boomerang hiring through team colleague-specific human capital resources. Similarly, a higher ratio of pipeline-based hiring, alongside other recurrent hiring practices, positively impacts team performance through team colleague-specific human capital resources. Our findings provide valuable insights for organizations aiming to rejuvenate their colleague-specific human capital resources through strategic hiring practices to achieve sustained success.
Keywords
boomerang hiring, colleague-specific human capital, mobility, performance, pipeline-based hiring
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